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Storyville: The Big Reveal—Adding Up to Ten
February 17th, 2023
So, you know the horror film—a quiet, dark house or maybe a creepy barn, with a full moon outside. The last final girl is walking towards the basement or the loft or the cornfield when all of a sudden—BAM. A cat jumps in the window. Something tips over. An animal runs out of the pile of hay. It’s a jump scare, and it works, but there’s no depth to this horror. It’s a moment, and it will not linger.
Read Column →The State of Book Bans in the US in 2023
February 15th, 2023
Image via Wikipedia Commons More. That’s the theme of 2023 when it comes to book bans: more. There have been more challenges, more protests, more pieces of legislation than there have been in the recent past.
Read Column →9 Dates From Literary Hell
February 14th, 2023
Flame image via icon0 Swooning over fictional characters is one of the perks of being a bookworm. They’re dashing and charismatic, romantic and audacious. But there’s also the characters we’d never want to run into in real life. Sometimes they’re the villains, sometimes they’re the unlikeable protagonists, and sometimes they’re side characters whose toxic traits take up the entire page.
Read Column →Eat Your Heart Out: A 5-Course Meal of Horror-Romance-ish Reads For Valentine's Day
February 13th, 2023
Valentine’s Day. Roses. Chocolates. Cutesy stuffed animals and fancy dinners. A baby with a bow. February is a month for lovers, but even with so much sweetness in the air, there’s still plenty to enjoy for those whose tastes run a little darker.
Read Column →Fostering Inclusivity: Sensitivity Readings and Content Warnings
February 10th, 2023
Image via Fernando Arcos Today I want to talk about two ways you can make your writing more inclusive. They're things you might not even think about, but your readers will definitely notice and appreciate when done well. Both can be summed up in this quote from Alan Baxter:
Read Column →Horrormance Titles for A Macabre Valentine's Day
February 9th, 2023
Horror and romance have more in common than one may initially think. Both genres often have to overcome stigmas that they're just one thing or the other, when in reality, there are so many works of popular romance and horror that hold a lot of depth. I'd argue romance and horror are the most honest genres. What's more vulnerable to us than what we love or what we fear? The stakes are always high with both, whether we're fighting for someone's affection or fighting to stay alive.
Read Column →Get The Most Out Of A Small Book Promo Budget
February 8th, 2023
Original image via Pixabay Let’s say you’ve got a book coming out, and let’s say you’ve set aside a modest promo budget of $250 dollars. Yes, I know, calling $250 bucks “modest” makes me sound like The Monopoly Man. But when it comes to book promo, you’ll eat through $250 pretty fast. If you’re looking at a budget like that, let me give you some hard-won advice on some good and bad ways to spend it.
Read Column →Book vs. Film: "The Cabin at the End of the World" Vs. "Knock at the Cabin"
February 7th, 2023
What happens when a novel of unabashed and beautiful ambiguity gets in the hands of a decidedly unsubtle — at times even blunt — filmmaker? Knock at the Cabin happens, an adaptation of Paul Tremblay’s 2018 novel, The Cabin at the End of the World, written and directed by the one and only M. Night Shyamalan.
Read Column →6 Books with Warped Timelines to Celebrate Groundhog Day, Bill-Murray-style
February 2nd, 2023
Not being American, I have to admit that Groundhog Day registers as Time Travel Day for me, purely out of association with the Bill Murray film. What better opportunity, then, to look for books that play with non-linear narratives, re-organized chronology or jumping through time? Bonus points if you begin the search grumpy as hell, then unexpectedly become an increasingly wholesome and honest person, to mirror the movie's arc.
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